Assad Demands ‘Conditions’ on Monitors as 34 More Slain

Pro-Regime Militia Dumps Bodies in Central Homs

At least 34 more people were killed today, and potentially many more, as a large number of bodies of protesters were dumped in central Homs by a militia loyal to the Assad regime, and activists reporting as many as 60 bodies discovered citywide.

The violence comes just a day after the regime missed yet another deadline set by the Arab League to agree on a deal to admit international monitors and implement a ceasefire against civilian protesters.Syrian officials say they “would like to” agree on the deal.

But not as-is. Syria initially agreed to the Arab League offer on November 1 but never implemented it and are now demanding a number of “conditions” be agreed to by the Arab League before the deal gets another lease on life.

Diplomats said a number of the “conditions,” which have yet to be made public, are entirely new, and some expressed a belief that they were thrown in simply to stall for time and discourage the Arab League from imposing new sanctions on Syria.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.